154 More Soil Myxobacteria Genomes Sequenced, Revealing 2,387 Unexplored Biosynthetic Gene Cluster Families

Researchers at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) and Saarland University in Germany redrew the taxonomy of myxobacteria (phylum Myxococcota), collected from soil over several decades, and cataloged their potential for natural product biosynthesis at the genome level. According to the paper in Advanced Science, 154 new genomes were added, raising the number of families from 11 to 28 and the number of genera from 32 to 90. The press release described the new strains as 118 species.

Biosynthetic diversity on par with actinomycetes

Compared at the same scale with actinomycetes (Actinomycetota), the traditional reservoir of antibiotics, the diversity of myxobacterial biosynthetic gene clusters was not inferior. Uncharacterized gene cluster families numbered 2,387. By tracing some of them through genome mining, the team identified 4 compounds with new structures, including myxolutamid and myxopentacin. The press release also described new compound classes in five groups, with antifungal, antiviral and antibacterial activity as well as siderophores and topoisomerase inhibitors (myxoquaterin, sandacravin, sandarazol, sorangibactin and pixidicycline).

Many compounds, such as myxolutamid A and sorangicin derivatives, are conserved within particular lineages, so the researchers argue that accurate classification becomes a map for targeted discovery. 'ABC-Myxo,' a web atlas of biosynthetic gene clusters, is freely available, and the strains are preserved at DSMZ in Germany.

These results center on genome analysis and structure confirmation and do not include efficacy or toxicity figures for individual compounds or animal experiments. The press release and the abstract differ in part in how they report the numbers of strains and compounds.